Reminder that my recent slideshow/Q&A is still up on YouTube thanks to the
@cartoonistcoop
! A few people have asked where to find it, it's right here!!!
That "hard to swallow art pill" thing is going around again, idk man here's an easy pill: You're already working hard enough and you definitely already feel bad enough. Working harder and feeling worse isn't gonna help.
Free pdf compiling artwork and some production info from animated features that were either canceled outright or severely kneecapped in production. Totally fascinating and what a pleasure to have it all in one place. Nice work!
This is Drawing For Nothing, an art book for the animated movies that never were or didn't get the chance they deserved. I'm very excited to announce the release of the first installment! I would absolutely love to know what you all think.
I started working in animation because someone took a chance on me when I had no experience. I got my first American job this past year because someone took a chance on me when I had never worked on a comparable show before. I got where I am because the door was held open for me.
@edmeadart
@kikutowne
I was the girl getting paid less in a nearly identical situation, I had no idea it was happening until my director found out and raised hell.
This is great advice! I noticed some comments saying they don't know how to warm up, or worry it would be too demanding. When I am just sketching or short of time, I always start by making a few marks in a corner - some examples from my sketchbook 🧵 1/3
Art advice you can use right now:
You have to warm up!! You cannot draw at your full ability suddenly out of nowhere. You can't judge yourself if you "suck" suddenly when you try.
You'd never ask an Olympic runner to do this right? Just draw a few doodles first
The Ghibli Museum is seeking donations to offset decreased attendance due to covid and the newly opened Ghibli theme park. I really, really loved it when I went and I hope it will be there forever.
I love Bluey and what makes me especially hopeful is that it is made, from top to bottom, in Aus. at a local studio. A lot of non-US artists dream of going to LA to get our stuff made, even overlooking the smaller scale opportunities in our own backyards 1/3
LRT, this is how most projects die - not completed and burned for writeoffs, but cut off when the execs who championed them are gone. Mergers, restructuring and layoffs are becoming increasingly frequent and fewer projects make it out of development at all.
I'm never gonna shut up about this, YOU ARE NOT TOO OLD to hit a first career milestone!!! The fixation on this is absolutely kneecapping us. It's a distraction, it's a scam, and it's patently untrue. Get yourself some birthday cake and keep going.
STORYBOARD PEOPLE: how do you show your boards on your website? Click thru slideshow thing? Multiple panel pdf pages? I see a lot of options, what's your favorite?
Hi there, it's me your local animation business nerd! Removal of previously released series from streaming ≠ a writeoff, which is called that because of the associated tax benefits and requires that the project remain unreleased. The real news is bad enough without misinfo. Bye!
I'M GIVING A TALK! I'll be talking about how feeling like shit is holding us back from our best work. Please come, please share, please ask me a question! Event info in thread. Thank you
@cartoonistcoop
for helping me put this on!
#comics
#art
#artblock
#cartoonists
For new cartoonists feeling dispirited by
#ComicsBrokeMe
, I highly recommend the resource section on
@cartoonistcoop
site. 1 stop shop for rates, submission guidelines, agents, templates, contracts, everything.
This isn't to discourage folks that don't have the countless advantages I do, this is to highlight the importance of holding open the door. I wish I had started younger, gone to animation school, taken my drawing classes more seriously, but I would still need someone to let me in
Wfh people, do you spend a lot of time and energy wondering if you suck at your job/if everyone is doing their job differently from you/if you were better suited to another job/whether your relationship to your job is normal/whether you are normal? Why am I trapped in this hell?
This could stand to be talked about more. We were making the same show on the same deadlines amid massive social unrest and fear. People lost loved ones/had mental health emergencies/etc and never stopped working. Nobody ever stopped working.
#NewDeal4Animation
Animation kept the lights on for all entertainment companies this year. Productions were expected to be fun and funny and light amidst a pandemic, social change, violent racism, and a bananas election. Artists, writers, & production teams all deserve much more.
#NewDeal4Animation
You should know this, whether you're interested in public health/covid/disability or not: the rich and powerful are not willing to breathe the same air they insist is safe for the rest of us. They do not breathe the same air.
In May, I made a tweet telling cartoonists what we most need to hear. That Tweet became the presentation I'll be giving on Sunday! This baby has it all: numerous slides, insightful quotes, embarassing personal anecdotes! Info + links below!
That "hard to swallow art pill" thing is going around again, idk man here's an easy pill: You're already working hard enough and you definitely already feel bad enough. Working harder and feeling worse isn't gonna help.
The completely accurate, what you see is what you get, does what it says on the tin opening of Jellystone. I'm not joking, we destroyed the town in every episode.
#jellystone
#hbomax
Baby's first story credits!!! I wrote on 2 episodes of the new Jellystone batch, Pants and Business, and I couldn't be prouder! Watch them, love them, live them.
#hbomax
#Jellystone
#story
This is essential. This is so important. If you are not already positioned to access these networks it WILL TAKE LONGER. Learning your craft, meeting people, pulling together enough money to live, immigration in my case - that stuff takes YEARS.
4) You will always feel behind. You see 23 year olds playing Sundance and winning Cannes. You look up writers on IMDB and it seems like everyone was in a room by 30. But their path is not your path. Usually, they had access to resources, mentors, opportunities much earlier…
Do people believe they understand how every job works, or is that just an entertainment thing? I'm talking dry cleaning, manufacturing, trucking logistics; normal jobs we may not think about if we don't do them. Do they attract the same backseat expert type people?
Like a lot of anim folks, I got my first gig from someone who saw potential and trained me from zero on the job. He was able to do it because the budget/schedule allowed him the time and flexibility. 1/4
This is pretty far afield now so if you're still reading and you'd like to hire me for your project, I'm looking. Kids books, storyboards, comics, writing tv outlines. People say I'm pretty funny. Get at me at
@charliepgavin
I watched this over and over trying to find some more logical explanation but there just isn't one? He really is just getting right under there.
@juicedrewthis
I mean, it comes and goes which is why we're always trying to hit that momentum. I think people more experienced than me can access it more easily, but it's ultimately a confidence thing and nobody is always confident.
I do that in my storyboards too, especially if I'm struggling with a drawing and need to loosen up again. I delete them before sending the file off though! 2/3
Netflix did to animation what Uber did to taxis. they pumped in absurd amounts of money to disrupt everything & pretend to be successful. once everyone pivoted to follow their lead, they revealed it never worked & they were losing money all along, leaving everything in shambles.
Today is exactly a year since I moved to LA. There's a lot of uncertainty right now, I'm not sure whether I'll even be able to keep living in the U.S., but I feel proud that I did it. Moving here was the biggest life thing I've ever done, and the scariest, but I did it.
I really encourage fans, particularly anyone who makes a living from animation criticism, to support TAG and its craft committees as negotiations start up again. Tagging posts
#NewDeal4Animation
is a great start 1/2
I've been revisiting my old comics and I thought this one about Dave Cooper's Ripple was pretty good! Looking back on these feels like reading someone else's work, which is a lot more pleasurable than reading my own.
People like this drawing! If you like it too maybe you'd like to hire me!!! Available for storyboards, comics, and I'd especially like to get more kids book work! Check out my whole deal at
Question: I often listen to the same song over and over, sometimes over several days. Everyone does this, right? I've recently heard not everyone does this but that seems impossible.
@meganroseruiz
I'm fascinated by the idea of "the rest of it," like it's a foregone conclusion that any given thing would have been bigger/better/more complete if not for human limitations. Just, what?
Something viewers may not know is that a 1 season order can be released as several tiny seasons. This keeps contracts shorter and eliminates the pay increases that typically accompany a 2nd season order.
#NewDeal4Animation
Kipo is a three season show, ten episodes each. The network promoted it that way. But internally they called it “one production order” which meant none of the artists working on it qualified for raises over the three years it took to make.
#PayAnimationWriters
#NewDeal4Animation
That said, the best warmup for me is always very quick life drawings. Online pose generators are great, I usually use . Still life is good too, basically anything where I have to look as much as I draw to get that hand eye connection going. 3/
@lindaholmes
I moved to Los Angeles in January, 2 months to the day before everything shut down. I was so lucky to be able to move here and so lucky to be working, but I'm mourning the life I thought I was going to have and I'm homesick for the one I left, and neither one exists anymore.
I was reminded today of this ancient comic I drew about feeling like a person. I'm a lot kinder to these old comics now, I think they're pretty good. 1/2
This thing is still going so here's my actual advice I give to students: make the work you can live with. Make it in a way that is humane and sustainable for you. 1/
@Q_Review
Hi there, I hope I'm not overstepping, but some antibiotics can cause insomnia. You may already know but it was a surprise to me. Feel better!
It seems when I share from Instagram it doesn't embed the image in a tweet? I don't know anything maybe this will work. Anyway here's me in the future at Disneyland.
Today is a big day for me! I'm so proud of our crew and proud of the show, especially Gotta Kiss 'Em All which was a huge episode for me. Big BIG thanks to everyone who made it look so great, and special thanks to
@EgoPlum
for auto-tuning my voice and making my song beautiful.
Thank you Thank you THANK YOU to everyone who came to my thing last night! I'm overwhelmed by all your kind and insightful questions and feedback. Link below if you want to watch the recording:
In favor of the reach, budget and prestige of the US. Bluey is a global hit in a time when there are few, and it comes out of a small studio like the ones I used to work at. We can make prestige product with care and, given the right resources, it can succeed. 2/3
JELLYSTONE IS COMING! Please please PLEASE get hyped for the first show I ever wrote on and the most fun I've ever had on a crew! I really love Jellystone and I hope you will too.
#jellystone
#hbomax
@zonchzone
Art school kept preparing me for this cutthroat marathon when in reality the harshest part of being out of school was that I was alone. I could have grown a community of peers, but I didn't because I was competing. That peer group would have changed my career, 100%
Lovely, compassionate appeal to anyone who has dropped their covid mitigations and are thinking of starting again. The pressures we feel are real, some precaution is better than none, it's never too late to look out for eachother. Let's reduce those harms!
This is also the case for the upcoming episodes of Jellystone, also airing on HBOMax and CN. I remember initially Netflix called this "s1 -part 2" on the consumer end too, but now it's commonplace for studios and networks to say "seasons" in public facing/promo copy.
Proof that this concept is not just used at Netflix. What studios do is tell artists and production to call Season 1 “Season 1A” and Season 2 “Season 1B” to get away with not paying artists what they should get paid.
#NewDeal4Animation
Don't forget, masking sometimes is better than masking never! Think about the people you're in community with and the places they likely need to go - doctor's, pharmacy, grocery store etc - that's a great place to start!
Hi there, my name is Meghan Lands, I'm an illustrator seeking representation! I'm interested in picture books and early reader comics, I especially love drawing wacky animals! You can see the good stuff at , I hope you'll get in touch!
#kidlitart
#kidlit
I just watched the 1st 2 eps of Carol and the End of the World and I couldn’t wait to say stuff about it, even if it's a little premature. This show is miraculous in a way that is gonna be so obvious to anyone working in television. Quiet, steady and astonishingly confident. 1/
Carol & the End of the World is now streaming on Netflix!!!!!!!! This project is soooo so special and getting to storyboard on it was a career highlight. I'm really proud of this one 🥲✨
Man, I have been alive so many days and I STILL overestimate how much I can do in every one! I don't know why I can't internalize the boundaries of what a day is! Is this just a limitation of the human brain?
Also on an unrelated note, you can just wait until you need to draw a car to learn how to draw one it's like, fine. You'll know you need to learn how to do something when you're A) bored with your work, or B) your employer requires it. /end
This tweet has gotten away from me a little bit, I hope people know that I don't work at the FTC, I'm not a lawyer or a business guy, I don't even work at paramount. I look stuff up because I'm interested but I don't know anything Google won't tell me. 🧵
Hi there, it's me your local animation business nerd! Removal of previously released series from streaming ≠ a writeoff, which is called that because of the associated tax benefits and requires that the project remain unreleased. The real news is bad enough without misinfo. Bye!